Quantitative Force Measurement of the Eye Surgical Simulator for ILM Peeling by Using QCR Force Sensor

We developed a sensor-integrated eye surgical simulator for inner limiting membrane (ILM) peeling, a complicated intraocular surgery. For the quantitative characterization of the retinal surgical skills, we first introduced a quartz crystal resonator (QCR) force sensor that exhibits the high sensitivity, the dynamic range, and the rigidity. The dynamic range of the simulator with this sensor was from 0.087 mN to 7.7 N. We subsequently achieved the uniformity of the force sensitivity on the retinal area of ILM peeling by the parallel mechanical suspension and double ends flexure of the QCR sensor. The error proportion of the sensitivity in that retinal area was suppressed within ±14 %. Finally, we demonstrated the practical evaluation of ILM peeling on the training platform.